Back to my palm pilot drama... I use it for business, that makes it
nail-related, which totally justifies my posting here, which totally makes MY
Palm Pilot drama YOUR problem too!
So HAH!
Y'all might recall that my last bit of complaining centered around what DEVICE
to replace my Palm with. After much discussing, and some plain old-fashioned
denial on my part (I just cannot accept that the perfect thing existed 10 years
ago and has vanished from the face of the earth)-- I reluctantly conceded that
an ipod touch was probably the closest I was going to get without increasing my
monthly cell phone bill by $40-60. Which is just so ludicrously, ridiculously,
annoyingly UNNECCESSARY that, really, it's best if we don't go there.
What I WANT (!!!! What I WANT is a new $(#*!!!*#ing Palm Pilot!) But, sucking
it up and (pretending) accepting that that is not feasible (yes, I could
purchase another Palm Pilot, but am not going to risk the investment on
something "refurbished") ... ok, so the (most) ideal solution would be to go
out and pick up a fancy smart phone and just not activate it as a phone.
Unfortunately, after exhaustive Internet searching and futile personal
interviews, it seems that it is not possible to simply purchase a device from a
store without activating both the phone function AND adding a corresponding
data plan.
I currently pay $25 a month for my cell phone service. It suits my needs just
fine. There is NO EARTHLY REASON for me to A. Change cell carriers and B. pay
an ADDITIONAL $40-60 a MONTH (in perpetuity) for a service that I do not need.
AND... the best I've been able to discern is that simply buying one of these
phones from Ebay or off of someone who didn't like theirs or has already
upgraded, means that I would not be able to access the calendar/contacts
functions of the device? And that, despite several of these devices being
equiped with wifi connectivity, somehow that won't work if the device isn't
activated on a plan? Which means there might be no way to sync an unactivated
device to a computer for backup?
If I could even access the functions.
Nobody seems to have a definitive answer for me on this. (I know I can can
still use one of my client's old Blackberries though... another issue entirely.)
Ok. So I did it finally. I broke down. I grabbed my checkbook last Wednesday
and marched my butt to the local Costco-- which I've already had several
"run-ins" with this year.
I swear! I'm about to stand outside that dang store and burn my Costco card.
Just last week they had the 4th generation ipod touch 32gb for $247. They
retail for $299. So I was all about saving the $50 bucks if I had to get an
ipod. (yes, everyone loves listening to me whine that I "have" to buy an ipod.)
BUT! When I arrived, they only had the 64gb iTouches.
I am NOT spending $379 for this thing. Costco can bite me. So I bought my
printer ink and photo paper and wandered the aisles muttering under my breath
like a crazy woman about how I don't even want one anyway-- meanwhile taking
notice of the TWO (count them, TWO!) pallets of iPod Touches that are stacked
30 feet above my head.
So as I was leaving the store I made the HUGE MISTAKE of stopping by the
customer service desk to ask when they expected to have the itouches "back in
stock" (which, seeing as how there are 2 pallets of the things clearly visible,
I'm not sure I'm willing to accept that they are even currently OUT of stock.)
Patty smiled at me and typed something into her computer. I assumed she typed
"ipod" seeing as how that's what we were looking for. Then she wrinkled up her
brow and looked confused while she stared at her screen and repeatedly uttered
the words, "it don't show me nothing."
After a few futile attempts at retyping her request and the computer continuing
"not to show her nothing" she looked up at me, perplexed, and asked if it might
be under something else?
I can't believe that Costco's inventory software doesn't search by keyword, but
[shrug] I've been having irritating and disappointing confrontations with
Costco all year so I offered up the possibility of the item being listed under
"apple."
Which resulted in the expected apple juices, apple ciders, apple pies.... so
she went back to typing in what I continued to assume was "ipod."
It, once again, "didn't show her nothing" so this time she turned her monitor
around so I could see it.
Not surprisingly, there were no results for "ipot."
By the time we actually got around to searching for "ipod" the only thing
saving Patty was the fact that although she was STUPID, she was, at least, nice
about it. Nevertheless, she still was unable to find the answer to my actual
question.
So I went to Best Buy. Where I initially thought I'd found a perfectly
acceptable alternative to an "ipot" (wtf? Seriously?) in a tablet device-- but
WOW! Is that a whole other little side adventure.
2 days later I returned to Best Buy, returned the POS tablet device, gave them
an ADDITIONAL $73 and walked out with a shiny new 4th generation 32gb iPod
Touch.
I even figured out how to configure my wireless network at the salon and sync
the itouch to my Google calendar.
Pretty cool.
Or-- it would be, if I actually had my schedule ON Google Calendar. Or even
Yahoo calendar.
I used to be able to sync my Palm Pilot to my Yahoo calendar. But then, at the
time, it intereferred with syncing the Palm to some other website so I deleted
the software that allowed me to do it. I don't use my Yahoo calendar for jack
and attempts to sync Google and the Palm via Goosync have proven fruitless and
somewhat disastrous for my relationship with the BF who doesn't understand why
this is so important to me (he lives without a cell phone at all, mind you) or
why failure means he has to duck knives.
So I thought, "fine. I'll just sync the Palm to Yahoo." But Yahoo has changed
it's calendar. I can no longer figure out how to do this. Many searches result
in "just export your calendar from you Palm Pilot and then import the .dba file
to Yahoo calendar using the import/export function on the options page of Yahoo
calendar."
There... is.... no.... such.... page. Seriously. I made Matt look for it. (He's
way calmer and better at technology than I am.)
So I finally just sat down and hand transferred all my appoinments for the rest
of this year into my Goolge calendar and it will sync up just fine when I'm
back where the itouch can wifi itself to Google.
But what about my contacts? I have 6 years of names, phone numbers, addresses,
birthdays, anniversaries, notes on preferred products and services and NOTES
NOTES NOTES on everyone I have touched for the last 6 years and whether or not
I ever want to see them again!
I am so not entering all that information in by hand.
So.
I desperately need to know how to use Goosync to sync my palm pilot Tungsten C
which runs Palm OS 4.1 to my Google calendar OR how to sync the Palm to Yahoo.
I am not picky, either calendar/contacts will suit me fine.
In the meantime... is/are there any "apps" from the apple app-store that would
make scheduling and contacts easier on the ipod than the "stock" software? I am
particularly irritated that I am unable to set appointments to repeat at
intervals OTHER than weekly, every two weeks. I need to be able to set them
every 3 or 4 weeks. Yeah, I can do it on Google/Yahoo and then it transfers--
but it'd be so much easier if I could just do it on the device.
Also, I loved the Palm address book because it gave me up to 4 (I think 4)
fields that I could customize. So I have a place for each client's first
service date with me, what that service was and what products we used and who
referred them. That's in addition to being able to write a bunch of notes about
them. AND I'm able to categorize my contacts into groups-- like "clients,"
"innactive clients," "DKA" (didn't keep appointment, so I know who owes me
money before I'll book them again,) and "DNR" (do not rebook, for the slobs who
have burnt their last bridge with me.)
Can I do this with the itouch too? I haven't figured out how.
Is the ipod touch REALLY the best option currently available? I REALLY can't
use a nice, Android phone without a service plan of any sort?
Maggie Franklin:
Owner & Artist, The Art of Nailz, Visalia CA
"Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time."
Maggie Rants [and rav...@nails Magazine
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